Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/121

 103 is thirty-three yards wide, and ninety-nine yards long. It cost £11 5s. 6d. to fence the front, with the regulation-post and rail fence made of mahogany; the railing at the sides is of split wood. Bricks are to be had at £2 4s. a thousand, not far from the spot, and the charge for drawing them in bullock-carts is seven shillings an hour.

I left Perth on Saturday, and went to Guildford: the heat most oppressive. Remained at Whitefield's all night, and reached home this morning. For two days past the weather has been very warm, thermometer about 125°—this is the greatest heat we have felt this year; yet the mornings are already cool. I have before told you that our neighbour, Mr. Brockman, has had the misfortune to have his house burned down by accident; all his furniture, clothes, plate, linen, &c., are destroyed. The conflagration took place about ten days ago, but he has a small house repaired again for his accommodation.

March 4th.—Prices have risen to a very serious height just now, and there is consequently a great outcry in the colony. Some of our friends appear to think that we are so well off that we cannot possibly want for any thing; and others probably imagine we are so far gone, that it is hopeless to send us any thing; so we fall between the two stools. Can you picture to yourself a new colony? You cannot. It is impossible for one, in the midst of the luxurious refinements of the old country, to conceive the actual state of a new one. Not that there are intolerable hardships, nor even great privations; but people's fancy will play them the trick of supposing that from throwing seed into the ground we can ensure a crop without any other trouble; whereas our culture, and all our operations, are most laborious: my two men have been now nearly a month looking for thatch and putting it on two houses, which are not near finished yet. As to breaking ground, it is easy when you have cattle; but, generally speaking, we are not so provided. It occupies a man twenty